And while the city consistently ranks as one of the best places to live in the country thanks in part to a strong economy and tons of entertainment, it’s not all rainbows and sunshine in Des Moines. Some neighborhoods aren’t as great as others.

So the question arises, which Des Moines neighborhoods are the worst, and which are the best?

Today, we’ll use science and data to determine which Des Moines hoods need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Des Moines area if you will. Realistically, you can’t expect all the neighborhoods to be amazing, although Ingersoll Park ranks way above the rest.

We examined 51 of Des Moines’s neighborhoods to find out the worst places to live. These places don’t quite measure up to Des Moines’s reputation.

How we determined the worst Des Moines hoods

To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what places have the least amount of those things. We threw the following criteria into this analysis in order to get the best, most complete results possible. We used this set of criteria for each neighborhood in Des Moines:

High unemployment (Less jobs)

Low median income (Less pay)

Low population density (No things to do)

Low home values (No one’s willing to pay to live here)

High crime (Estimated)

Then, we ranked each neighborhood in Des Moines for each of these criteria from worst to best.

Next, we averaged the individual rankings for each criteria into a ‘Worst Score’.

The neighborhood with the lowest ‘Worst Score’ ranks as the worst neighborhood of Des Moines.

Read on below to learn more about these terrible places around Des Moines to live. Or skip to the end to see the list of all 51 neighborhoods ranked from worst to best.

This list is a scientific analysis based on real data and is completely unbiased. Hold on to your pants.

1. Capitol View South

Population: 522Median Income: $27,000Median Home Value: $74,200

2. Capitol East

Population: 1,939Median Income: $32,624Median Home Value: $64,133

3. Somerset

Population: 248Median Income: $37,079Median Home Value: $32,500

4. New Vision

Population: 846Median Income: $27,212Median Home Value: $87,500

5. Cheatom Park

Population: 1,623Median Income: $32,019Median Home Value: $77,100

6. Garton West

Population: 72Median Income: $34,922Median Home Value: $101,600

7. King-Irving Park

Population: 2,669Median Income: $29,773Median Home Value: $84,025

8. Kirkwood Glen

Population: 272Median Income: $28,911Median Home Value: $68,100

9. River Bend

Population: 2,892Median Income: $28,161Median Home Value: $89,500

10. Capitol Park

Population: 3,163Median Income: $28,422Median Home Value: $77,800

The ‘hoods around Des Moines that are really hoods

Well there you have it — the worst of the neighborhoods in Des Moines with Capitol View South landing at the bottom of the pack.

As we mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Des Moines aren’t all bad. Ingersoll Park takes the cake as the best place to live in Des Moines.